Tag Archives: johnny cueto

What do the Toronto Blue Jays’ Devon Travis, the Cincinnati Reds’ Eugenio Suarez and the Milwaukee Brewers’ Hernan Perez have in common?

Not only are they all 24-years-old, they were all at one time (in the last year) a member of the Detroit Tigers’ farm system. Another trait they have in common? They’ve all been pretty successful with the bat this season.

Devon Travis, Toronto Blue Jays

Acquired from the Tigers for centerfielder Anthony Gose, Travis established himself as an early candidate for Rookie of the Year honors with a .325 batting average, six home runs and 19 RBI over the season’s first month. The second baseman struggled in May (his average dropped to .269), and eventually hit the disabled list.

The former Tigers’ farmhand returned in late June and has been on a tear ever since. His batting average since returning is an absurd .354. His home run (0) and RBI (eight) numbers since aren’t the same as before, but no one can deny Travis’ hitting ability.

The Tigers certainly aren’t complaining. Travis wouldn’t have unseated Ian Kinsler at second, while Gose has provided strong defense in center to go along with a .272 batting average and 14 steals in 82 games. Gose has also contributed 19 extra-base hits.

Eugenio Suarez, Cincinnati Reds

Sent to the Reds in the Alfredo Simon trade, Eugenio Suarez has been almost as much of a surprise as Travis at the plate. The shortstop didn’t make the team out of Spring Training, but has been excellent since being called up. He’s hitting .313 with five (!) home runs and 18 RBI in 36 games. His OPS is .825 and he’s already earned a WAR of 1.

With the Reds going through a transition with Johnny Cueto now departed, look for Suarez to receive more at-bats as the team evaluates for the future. Safe to say Suarez has already made quite the first impression.https://vine.co/v/e6pOMXtt9VO/embed/simple

Hernan Perez, Milwaukee Brewers

Lost via waiver claim to the Brewers in early June, Hernan Perez, like Travis and Suarez, has raked. The American League’s eighth youngest player in 2012 owns a .311 batting average in 41 games for the Brew Crew after an awful .061 line in 22 games for Detroit. Perez has driven in four runs and smacked 11 extra-base hits (nine doubles, a triple and a home run) while playing three positions across the infield.

Like Cincinnati, Milwaukee is going through a transitional period. Perez seems to be making the best of the situation.

Those, in a nutshell, are the top pitchers in baseball. Notice the placement of RA Dickey and James Shields. Both have been traded in the last month, yet both are ranked below (in my estimate) Felix Hernandez. In addition to those two big offseason moves, the Angels signed Josh Hamilton. I say this for one reason, Texas isn’t going anywhere, and Los Angeles just added Hamilton to their team. The other team in the division is Oakland who, I might point out, was probably the second best team in the AL playoffs last year.

Regardless of Seattle’s current talent (meh,) the team is in a stacked division. Anything besides last place is probably a miracle (barring an Angels’ season-long flop.)

The team isn’t going anywhere soon. Thus it makes sense to trade Felix Hernandez, especially since their top two pitching prospects (Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen) are ranked fourth and eighth in terms of the top 100 prospects in the game per Jonathan Mayo.

There are two, if not three, (James Paxton could be special as well) potential Hernandez replacements waiting in the system. Yes, the fences are being moved in and the Mariners need to sell tickets, but dealing Hernandez makes sense.

Let’s put a few things out there. One, Hernandez is four years younger than Shields and twelve younger than Dickey. Not surprisingly, King Felix is a much better pitcher than both. The point on Shields, or even Dickey, is that Shields fetched the number three overall prospect (again all this per Mayo,) Wil Myers, who has at least “star” potential if not more. Another prospect that went to Tampa was starter Jake Odorizzi, ranked the 30th best in all of baseball. Tampa also picked up two other prospects who are ranked in the top 20 of their system.

New York got the 11th and 83rd best prospects in the game by selling high on a 38-year old.

What I’m getting at, if you haven’t gotten there first, is that the Rays and Mets got some of the better packages of prospects that the trading market has seen in the past few years. I would think that the Mariners would want to cash in with a haul of that kind.

The Mariners need a hitter to lead them into the next phase of the franchise (hopefully contending.) I’m sure they’d jump at a package of Jurickson Profar and Mike Olt (not that Texas would consider that seriously.) But Seattle needs a corner stone. They need the next Miguel Cabrera or Evan Longoria. They need someone who can carry a team on his backs/bats. Maybe Felix Hernandez is the way to find that player.

Surely if James Shields and RA Dickey can fetch outstanding hauls of prospects, then a younger and better pitcher (Felix Hernandez) can get a better one.

What do you think? Should the Mariners trade King Felix or should they keep him and try to contend?